Cell Death News and Research

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Cancer cells can 'bag up and bin' a toxic protein to cheat death

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered that cancer cells can 'bag up and bin' a toxic protein to cheat death - revealing a new Achilles heel in cancer cells that could be targeted for treatment, reveals research in Nature Cell Biology today.

5 Dec 2011

Four clinical centers to provide NovoTTF device treatment for recurrent GBM

Novocure, a commercial stage private oncology company, has announced that prominent neuro-oncologists at four clinical centers in the U.S. will be the first to provide access to its Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) device, NovoTTF-100A System, for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. GBM is a deadly brain tumor affecting approximately 10,000 Americans each year.

3 Dec 2011

Promising new agent against sarcomas affecting children

MK 1775, a small, selective inhibitor molecule, has been found to be active against many sarcomas when tested by researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. Their findings, recently appearing in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, published by the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest that a badly needed new agent against sarcomas - especially sarcomas affecting children - may be at hand.

3 Dec 2011

University of Illinois Hospital prescribes Tumor Treating Fields therapy for recurrent GBM

The University of Illinois Hospital is the first center in North America to prescribe a new FDA-approved treatment for patients with the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor, glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM.

3 Dec 2011

MK 1775 shows promise against sarcomas

MK 1775, a small, selective inhibitor molecule, has been found to be active against many sarcomas when tested by researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.

3 Dec 2011

New method reveals complete set of aberrant signaling pathways that give rise to cancers

One major obstacle in the fight against cancer is that anticancer drugs often affect normal cells in addition to tumor cells, resulting in significant side effects. Yet research into development of less harmful treatments geared toward the targeting of specific cancer-causing mechanisms is hampered by lack of knowledge of the molecular pathways that drive cancers in individual patients.

2 Dec 2011

Enrollment complete in Ceregene's CERE-120 Phase 2b trial for Parkinson's

Ceregene, Inc. reported today that it has completed enrollment in its Phase 2b trial of CERE-120, a gene therapy product expressing the neurturin (NRTN) gene for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

1 Dec 2011

Researchers reveal stress-induced machinery of protein synthesis involved in bacterial cell death

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Vienna have revealed for the first time a stress-induced machinery of protein synthesis that is involved in bringing about cell death in bacteria.

1 Dec 2011

Ferrer introduces citicoline oral solution medical food

Ferrer Therapeutics, the U.S. subsidiary of the international pharmaceutical group, Ferrer Grupo, is introducing CerAxon- Oral Solution to the U.S. market, the first and only oral solution medical food containing citicoline, a nutrient naturally produced by the body and found in the brain.

29 Nov 2011

Scientists use genetic methods to successfully repair cleft lips in mice embryos

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College used genetic methods to successfully repair cleft lips in mice embryos specially engineered for the study of cleft lip and cleft palate. The research breakthrough may show the way to prevent or treat the conditions in humans.

29 Nov 2011

Study shows degeneration of corpus callosum in stroke patients with impaired hand movement

The structure of the corpus callosum, a thick band of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain with each other and in this way enables the rapid exchange of information between the left and right hemispheres, plays an important role in the regaining of motor skills following a stroke. A study currently published in the journal Human Brain Mapping has shown that in stroke patients with particularly severely impaired hand movement, this communication channel between the two brain hemispheres in particular was badly damaged.

22 Nov 2011

Scientists design math model that could guide future prostate cancer treatments

Scientists have designed a first draft of a mathematical model that someday could guide treatment decisions for advanced prostate cancer, in part by helping doctors predict how individual patients will respond to therapy based on the biology of their tumors.

22 Nov 2011

MedUni Vienna researchers discover important regulators in development of stem cells

A team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna's Institute of Medical Genetics has discovered that two genes (TSC/Tuberin and PRAS40) are extremely important regulators in the development of stem cells: if these genes are switched off, the stem cells do not develop but instead die a programmed cell death.

21 Nov 2011

Promising results from dexpramipexole phase 2 trial on ALS

Treatment with dexpramipexole - a novel drug believed to prevent dysfunction of mitochondria, the subcellular structures that provide most of a cell's energy - appears to slow symptom progression in the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Promising results of a phase 2 trial of dexpramipexole are receiving advance online publication in Nature Medicine.

20 Nov 2011

New protein in the fruit fly eye may shed light on neurodegenerative diseases

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and collaborators have discovered a powerful new protein in the eye of the fruit fly that may shed light on blinding diseases and other sensory problems in humans.

18 Nov 2011

Probiotic before radiation therapy can protect intestine from damage

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that taking a probiotic before radiation therapy can protect the intestine from damage — at least in mice.

17 Nov 2011

Diallyl trisulfide may protect heart after attack

A component of garlic oil may help release protective compounds to the heart after heart attack, during cardiac surgery, or as a treatment for heart failure.

17 Nov 2011

New 2-DG-ABT combination cancer therapy triggers apoptosis

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Kyushu University Medical School say a novel combination of a specific sugar molecule with a pair of cell-killing drugs prompts a wide variety of cancer cell types to kill themselves, a process called apoptosis or programmed cell death.

17 Nov 2011

Dipyrone may reduce brain damage after stroke

An older nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) called dipyrone may offer a new approach to reducing injury to brain tissue after a stroke, according to a study in the October issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

17 Nov 2011

Molecular level insights into connection between cancer and diabetes

Developing type 2 diabetes is a lengthy process. An early sign that it has begun is high levels of insulin in the blood. As long as the insulin-producing beta cells are able to compensate for the increased demand, for example when the individual is overweight, the blood sugar levels remain normal. It is not until the capacity for insulin secretion falls below the level needed that type 2 diabetes becomes a fact. The latter stage generally goes quickly, as the stressed beta cells work themselves to death.

16 Nov 2011